Police at the stabbing scene at 7338 Elliot Avenue South in Richfield.

Joel Koyama, Dml - Star Tribune

1 dead, 2 hurt in linked Richfield, Minneapolis stabbings

Article by: MARY JANE SMETANKA and MATT McKINNEY

Star Tribune staff writers

March 2, 2012 - 9:16 PM

One person died and two were injured in two separate but apparently related stabbing incidents, one Friday in Richfield and one Thursday night in Minneapolis.

Richfield police said all three victims are related and that the stabbings appear to be connected, even though they took place at different locations.

Police were called to the 7300 block of Elliot Avenue S. in Richfield just before noon Friday. There, they found one male dead and a female victim, who was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with injuries that were not life-threatening. A third victim, a man, was located at HCMC, also with non-life-threatening stab wounds, from an attack that took place the night before in Minneapolis.

Richfield Deputy Police Chief Todd Sandell said the stabbings appear to be "a self-contained incident" and that police are trying to sort out how the Minneapolis stabbing ties in.

"We're trying to figure out where that fits into the puzzle," he said.

Authorities said they do not believe the public is in any danger.

The Minneapolis stabbing was reported shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, when someone called 911 to report a man bleeding heavily from his jaw, according to Minneapolis police. The man had stumbled into a business in the 900 block of E. Franklin Avenue.

The man would not identify himself, but authorities determined he was James Trenton Powell, 43, according to Minneapolis Sgt. William Palmer. "He fought with the paramedics" who came to his aid, Palmer said. A blood trail led police to the nearby spot where he had been stabbed.

Powell was taken to HCMC for treatment.

Many people on the rambler-lined block where the Richfield stabbings occurred are longtime residents. Two neighbors said the slaying was a shock even though the home where the two victims were found has had previous police calls.